Americans love potatoes.
In fact, the average American eats 29 pounds of potatoes in a year. Those pounds usually come from baked, boiled, mashed potatoes or french fries. According to a new study, potatoes may be linked to high blood pressure.
Potatoes, French Fries Linked to High Blood Pressure in Latest Study
Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health carried out an observational on potatoes and high blood pressure.
The researchers went through medical records from more than 60,000 women from the Nurses’ Health Study, nearly 90,000 women in the second part of the Nurses’ Health Study, and almost 37,000 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study in order to look for answers.
Researchers carried out this study for more than 20 years, so it gave the researchers a vast amount of information to gather.
The Results
The researchers found some interesting results. Participants who ate four or more servings of boiled/mashed potatoes a week had an 11% higher risk of developing high blood pressure.
Participants who ate four or more servings of french fries increased their risk of high blood pressure by 17%.
Researchers compared these groups to others who ate one serving or less of potatoes per month. This is much less than the average American consumes.
What Does this Mean for Blood Pressure?
With these foods linked to high blood pressure, these starchy foods may be on a watchlist for those trying to prevent hypertension. Most people add salt to their potatoes, which does not help in the risk factor.
This study is one of the first to research this correlation. However, researchers need to conduct more studies to form a more conclusive result.
Researchers found replacing one serving of baked, mashed, or boiled potatoes with a non-starchy vegetable seemed to decrease the risk of high blood pressure.
Sticking with green vegetables is a safe way to go. Since they contain fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins, they help maintain and support healthy blood pressure.
So, if you have high blood pressure, lowering your intake of potatoes, either baked, boiled, mashed or french fries could help you decrease your hypertension.
Resources
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/05/23/potatoes-hypertension-high-blood-pressure-french-fries-study/